I pretended that he and I were alone. I pretended that we were not at the bottom of the lake. We did not want to be in the lake, but we did not have a choice. The lake was, of course, deep. Even if we swam, we would never reach the surface. Not even close. The water would just push us and push us - until we gave up.

But I could not give up. I knew that we could not throw in the towel. We did not even have a towel, so just how were we supposed to throw in the towel? And where do we throw them? We could not throw them underwater. It would float back down to the floor. Whoever created the phrase did not think it through, especially two kids trapped at the bottom of a lake.

As if he read my mind, Grayson said, "We cannot leave this lake. There is no way out."

I threw up my hands. "Wonderful."

He looked down at the floor. "Well, you can leave, but I cannot. But it is okay. I am just ecstatic that you know. My friends and I are over the moon that you know said truth."

"You mean about Gabriel?"

He slowly nodded. "You do not believe me...do you?"

I stared at my prosthetic hand and tested it. "I-it is not that I do not believe you. It is...my gosh. I do not know what to say."

He glanced at me and put on a small smile. "I was once in your shoes, Allison."

I looked at my sneakers. Then back at him. "You could not have been in my shoes. Unless that you and I have the same shoe size, but I doubt it."

"You do not know what being in somebody else's shoes means, do you?"

"Yes, I do."

He shook his head. "It is a figure of speech. When I say that I was in your shoes, it means that I know what you are feeling." He started to rub my arm. "I was confused like you. Possibly more confused. I assumed that I was going to drown. I was afraid that no one would find me in time." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "There was nothing that anyone could do. Nothing that my friends or my family can do now." He covered his eyes with his hands. "That doctor was wrong. I am a lost cause."

My heart went out to him. Anybody who thinks that he or she is a lost cause is sobbing for help. I wrapped my arms around him and comforted him. He was shocked by my hug. His eyes widened, and he was trying to not touch me. I smiled and pulled Grayson close so that he would have no choice but to touch me. I wanted him to hug me back. I wanted to let him know that he was not alone, which is what I told him.

"Take it from me, Grayson. You are not a lost cause. If I am not a lost cause, you sure are not. The reason that you feel like a lost cause is because you have convinced yourself. You continue convincing yourself that you are worthless based on what happened to you."

He pulled away. "You do not understand, Allison."

"What do you mean that I do not understand? I lost an arm like you and my leg. I was stripped from them due to a car accident. I was in the hospital for months. The doctor thought that I would not make it."

"But you defied the odds." He patted my head. "But if I were you, I would cut all ties with Gabriel. He has huge plans for you, and they are not good."

"What kinds of plans?"

Grayson rested his head in his palm and looked away.

"Grayson, I need to know. If you want me to stay away from Gabriel, then you must tell me why he wants me."

"I will tell you, but I will not look at you."

"Fine, but why do you not want to look at me?"

"My new friends told me not to while I explained. They said that I do not want to see your reaction because...it would be too much for my heart to take." He stood and gripped the fabric of his shirt. "I-I have been through a lot and...still cannot believe that Gabriel would do this. He does not care about the disabled."

I rose to my feet. "What do you mean that Gabriel does not care about the disabled?"

"How else can I make it clearer? That idiot has no care for people like us. He is just using us."

"For his plans?"

"Now you are getting it."

What Grayson explained to me left me heartbroken. It was the worst news that I have received. Besides being told that I was missing an arm and leg. But I was soooo relieved that I did not go on that date.

Gabriel did not love me. He did not even care for me or the other children that he made friends with, which all were disabled. He wanted to be our friend not because he had pity for us or wanted to get to know us.

Who wants to be friends with a user?

Technically, Gabriel is not a user, but he might as well. He had plans for the kids like him after he passed. Yep. He was dead. As dead as Grayson and his friends. And to add icing to the cake, the young boy who drowned in the lake...was Gabriel. His body was in this lake. It was him all along.

I had forgotten all about that body. I covered my eyes.

Grayson must have looked back at me because he said, "Why are you covering your eyes?"

Instead of answering his question, I asked my own. "Is the body down here?"